How lucky am I?
37
TRIPP
Mesa’s speakerplays low in the backyard as she and Blythe lie on a large blanket in the grass. Their feet swing in the air while their upper bodies are propped up on their elbows. Half of her red hair is pulled back and tied up in a ribbon. Lips stretched wide in a smile.
I lean back in my seat under the back porch with my head tilted slightly. Watching her.
Gage blocks my view momentarily as he crosses the yard and walks inside with a drink in his hand. Savannah distracts me next, waving incessantly out of the corner of my eye.
I turn my head, and she silently mouths,“They’re here.”
Blythe and I make eye contact, and one nod from me is all she needs to take Mesa’s hand and stand to bring her inside. I smirk as they pass by, and Mesa pins me with a look of confusion on her face.
Any second now.
“Oh my god!” Mesa screams from inside.
My palms slap my knees as I rise from my chair and join everyone else in the house. By everyone, I meaneveryone.
Mesa’s mom and Nana. Nana’s nurse, who is helping her to find a comfortable seat at the table, albeit slowly. The two women who created the app with her. The entire crew from the ranch.
I’m on my way to help Nana when Mesa jumps up and smashes her mouth against mine the second she spots me entering the living room. My arms loop around her back, and I rub the pad of my thumb along her shoulder blade. She smells like her garden, and her lips taste like sparkling peach wine.
Once she pulls back, I wipe away the tear that sits on the apple of her cheek.
“I didn’t know you invited them,” she says, beaming.
“That’s generally the point of surprises,” I point out with a laugh. “More fun that way, don’t you think?”
Mesa nods several times and rises to her toes to give me a quick kiss again. Putting everyone she cares about in one room on short notice wasn’t a hard task. Each call I made ended with an enthusiastic, “Yes, I’ll be there. No matter what.”
Everyone in her life loves her dearly. As they should. How could they not? They’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a more loyal, resilient, and compassionate personality than my girl.
She skips around the room as chatter picks up among everyone here to celebrate her.
Blythe introduces herself to Mesa’s app partners near the table. Gage stands next to B with an arm around her shoulder, and I pat the middle of his back as I weave past them.
Savannah cuts a cherry pie at the kitchen island, plating each piece, while Warren scoops vanilla ice cream to go with it.
Heston snags one of the plates and hands it to Mesa’s mom. I come up next to her and she shakes her head—eyes narrowed and a slight curve to one side of her mouth.
“Not a bad party,” she says, scanning the group of people in the house. Then she leans toward me and whispers, “I knew you two liked each other. It’s wonderful seeing how close you two have become.”
“We’ve always been this close,” I reply honestly, and look over to where Mesa and her nana are in deep conversation at the table. We’re together now, but looking back on when we started as friends, it took no time at all for the closeness to form. I felt it in the first week of knowing her. “I just want to make her happy,” I add.
“Mission accomplished there. She’s told me as much,” Ms. Riley reveals. “Keep her safe and make sure y’all come visit often, hmm?”
I nod with my mouth pressed in a firm line. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You there,” Mesa’s nana calls me over with a wave, and I’m at the table a moment later. “Sit with us so I can grill you before I keel over and die soon.”
I laugh, nodding and pulling out a chair.
“Nana,” Mesa whispers while shooting me an apologetic look. “Can you bring some water first, T? Please?”
Spinning on my heel, I head for the kitchen cabinet. I make a mental note to buy Mesa some cups because all the ones that she owns are currently in use. I glare at the empty shelf until I spot a glass in the sink in my peripheral.
